1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure is generally related to coating compositions, and more particularly to decorative effect coating compositions capable of producing multi-colored and/or multi-shaded appearances in a single application.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
Most prior art coating compositions produce coatings having single- or solid-colored appearances after application to a surface. Therefore, multiple applications of different coating composition products are often required when consumers wish to create coatings having multi-colored appearances. Alternatively, consumers can utilize known multi-color coating compositions that provide desired multi-colored decorative effects in a single application.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,058,931 discloses a multi-color coating composition that produces a coating having a mottled appearance in a single application. The coating includes an “aqueous base” containing a protective colloid, one or more pigments essential to hiding quality and to control gloss level of the product, and an emulsion polymer. A pigmented varnish vehicle that is prepared by grinding colored pigments into a resinous varnish vehicle. The contrast between the large, macroscopic pigmented varnish particles and the non-colored aqueous base of the resultant composition provides a coating having a mottled appearance after a single application. The '931 patent emphasizes that pigmented varnish vehicles having at least one hydrophilic number less than 60 (or a hydrophilic/lipophilic balance (“HLB”) value of less than 12) must be used in order to prevent the degradation of the hydrophobic macroscopic varnish particles (and thus the mottled appearance of the applied coating). Further, because the coating composition is merely capable of providing a mottled appearance, it does not provide consumers with the ability to create customized decorative patterns.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,904 discloses another multi-color coating composition that produces a coating having a mottled appearance in a single application. The coating composition contains “globules” of solvated polymer that have been colored by addition of pigment before the polymer is cross-linked. In a stable dispersion, the globules of cross-linked polymers are dispersed in a liquid in which they are relatively immiscible, and do not coalesce with one another. Therefore, the stable globules provide the applied coating with a mottled appearance. In a transient dispersion, the coating composition contains two solutions (or a continuous phase and a discontinuous phase) of incompatible polymers, which generally have been colored by addition of pigment before cross-linking. The polymer globules of the dispersed phase coalesce with one another to form larger particles, and provide a coating having a mottled appearance. Additionally, a striated pattern can be formed when shear is applied to the applied coating when the coating is still wet because both the dispersed and continuous phases (i.e., the two polymer solutions) flow without mixing. However, the nature of the globules causes the resulting coating appearance to include discontinuous streaks or bursts of color where shear is applied.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,346 discloses an additional multi-color coating composition that produces a coating having a grained or antique appearance (or “finish”) in a single application. The coating composition contains a primary pigment dispersed in an oil modified alkyd resin vehicle. The coating composition further includes a secondary pigment, which is encapsulated by a resin that is immiscible with the oil-modified alkyd resin vehicle. Application of shear to an applied wet coating causes the secondary pigment to be released from its resinous capsule (or “shell”) thereby providing a grained or antiqued appearance to the finish. Similar to the globules of the '904 patent, the nature of the encapsulated secondary pigments causes the resulting coating appearance to include discontinuous streaks or bursts of color where shear is applied.